Kristine Johnson: Joining us now on the phone is Mayor Eric Adams. Mayor, thanks for taking the time. Let's get right to it. Which areas are causing the most concerns right now?
Mayor Eric Adams: As you just mentioned, out in Queens we're seeing flooding along the Clearview Expressway, as well out in Staten Island, we're seeing flooding in those areas as well and we deployed our FDNY high water units to go out and you see there's several rescues that are taking place.
We're not seeing any loss of life, but we're letting New Yorkers know that there is a severe weather watch— a severe weather storm right now and we have put in place a state of emergency for the New York City area.
Jessica Moore: Mayor, let's talk about that emergency response. How quickly can the plan be activated and exactly what does it entail?
Mayor Adams: It's really activated immediately because many of the agencies that are involved like FDNY, NYPD, DEP and others, they have several drills throughout the year and they make sure that they're ready to kick in gear automatically.
Everyone knows what needs to be done and what it does for the most part, it takes bureaucracy out of trying to execute purchasing power, making sure that we could have the teams deployed with the agencies, without going through very stringent procedures to do so.
Johnson: But mayor specifically, what about alerting your residents here in the city when dangerous conditions are imminent? Has the city improved its alert and communication system? Is it faster? Is it more effective?
Mayor Adams: We've learned a lot from earlier storms back in 2020, ‘21, particularly those that live in basement apartments and we have created mappings to know where these areas are and we have been notifying New Yorkers for several days about this upcoming storm, and we have always encouraged New Yorkers to sign on to NotifyNYC so they can get up-to-date information and send out advisories and alerts. So there's a continuous process of notifying before the storm and notifying during the storm.
Moore: And just quickly before we let you go, let's talk about the subway concerns. We all remember what happened at 28th Street a few weeks ago. I know you're not necessarily responsible for the MTA but the subways in your city are a big part of your life. Is the MTA equipped to handle flooding better than they have been in the past?
Mayor Adams: Yes and you're right, it is in the city and so we will never shun the responsibility of making sure New Yorkers can commute. The flooding, anytime you have a system that's below grade like our subway system, that's where water is going to go to.
We reached out to the MTA, our extreme weather coordinator, and stated, is there anything that we can do that they need our help with such as manpower, etc. And they say no, not at this time. So you're going to have flooding in the subway system because it's low grade, but we want to get it out as quick as possible so the commute can normalize as quick as possible.
Johnson: Mayor Eric Adams, we know you've had a very busy day and a trying few days here this week. Thank you for joining us here at five.
Mayor Adams: Thank you, take care.
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